1 February 2010

Libraries support A Stronger Fairer Australia

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Library people were out in force at the launch of A Stronger Fairer Australia, a new report detailing the Federal Government's social inclusion strategy.

The launch, by the Hon Julia Gillard MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Inclusion, took place during the Social Inclusion Conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 28 January.

Jan Richards, President of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), attended the event, along with Victorian library colleagues. She said, "It was a high level conference, attended by many senior government figures, including the Hon Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Senator the Hon Ursula Stephens. Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, and Patricia Faulkener, Chair of the Australian Social Inclusion Board.

"We were pleased to hear one of the keynote speakers early on the first day focus on the importance of reading and we hoped that this would be reflected in the Government's eagerly-awaited new report. While we welcomed the approach described in the document, we were disappointed at the failure to give reading a higher profile. Libraries were mentioned only twice, under 'investments in school education' and as a community resource for social inclusion.

"Senator Stephens was the opening speaker at the ALIA Public Libraries Summit in July last year and we hoped some of her remarks about the positive and active libraries play in promoting social inclusion would be included in this strategy document.

"This neglect of libraries' wider contribution to society reinforces our determination as an association to raise the profile of libraries in Federal Government circles, as part of our ALIA year of lobbying and advocacy."

ENDS